General Motors is looking to be bringing the Volt to Europe by late 2011. This is earlier than initially reported. GM needs to spread out as much of the high-cost of development and production of the gas/electric hybrid as possible, so multiple outlets are being considered. Opel is working on its own plug-in hybrid vehicles, and the Volt is expected to join that lineup. But once Opel has a strong electric presence, it is rumored that the Volt will be changed to be sold as a Chevrolet.
Chevrolet is not a name necessarily associated with quality in Europe. Most of the Chevy products there are just know for their inexpensive price because offerings are just re-badged Daewoos. The Corvette is sold over there, but not as a Chevy. Instead the sports car is presented as its own brand sold out of Cadillac dealerships. So if the Volt eventually switches to the Chevrolet name, it may give the company a much-needed image boost.
Sometimes technology isn’t a blessing. Not only did video kill the radio star, but also General Motor’s travailing showcase know as Motorama.
Motorama used to travel all around the U.S. in a caravan of specially built “Parade of Progress” busses, all used to showcase GM’s new cars and new innovations. But once television was in every household, the Motorama changed. It was still a grand spectacle, but the Motorama no longer came to your doorstep. By the mid-50s Motorama would only set up in the major cities but could be broadcast to homes nationwide through TV. The last one was held in 1961.
Enjoy as GM’s Vice President of Global Design, Ed Welburn reminisces about the Motorama and the dream cars of GM’s past before they are showcased next week at Pebble Beach (including the Chevrolet Biscayne.)
Ever get drunk and accidentally buy something online? I’m not talking about purchasing white alligator shoes after three beers. I’m talking a shut down the bar, then start doing tequila shooters with your “new” friends, and waking up on your kitchen counter with your credit card, laptop and nothing else. Three days later 100 copies of the 2rd season of ’The Office’ shows up on your doorstep, and you only vaguely remember saying something like “best show ever” right before eating the worm.
If latter describes you then DO NOT look at www.gmperformanceparts.com. At General Motor’s newest website you can now order complete high-performance crate engines right to your doorstep. Also available is everything else in the GM Performance catalogue including blocks, heads, cams, intake manifolds, accessory drives and dress-up parts. So while dropping a small-block V-8 into you Cavalier may seem like a good idea the night before, please wait for the light of day to make the final decision.
For the rest of us this is just a quick way to get some more speed out of our GM cars.
Diesel is not the fuel of choice for many Americans. It can be viewed as a smelly and polluting sludge that is inferior to gasoline. General Motors is trying to debunk myths about the diesel because its the fuel efficiency benefits show that there is a real future for the fuel in the U.S. This is the second video in a series that GMnext is creating about how General Motors sees alternative fuel solutions.
How deep are General Motors troubles and what will bring it back? That’s a topic the TopSpeed Team has been covering frequently, and our eyes will now be on a CNBC news documentary, “Saving General Motors”. This looks to show what’s going right and what’s going wrong at the once largest company in the world. The documentary includes interviews with everyone from GM executives to assembly line workers to get a feeling of what the future may have in store for GM.
The program is tonight at 9 p.m. eastern. Previews of the hour-long documentary are available on CNBC’s site.
Mahindra is an Indian carmaker that first gained attention by building Jeeps for the home market. Now they may be interested in moving on to the next generation of American military vehicles by buying the Hummer brand. This may seem like an odd move during a time when high fuel prices are causing large SUVs to grow stale on dealer lots, but Mahindra may be looking at Hummer for part of a bigger plan.
It’s no secret that General Motors wants to get rid of Hummer, and Mahindra may utilize its name and products to help bring it’s own cars to the U.S. Its rumored that the company is developing a network of around 300 dealerships across the U.S. to sell Mahindra vehicles, with a $125,000 fee being asked from dealerships to become franchisees.
As General motors and Ford are trying to stop record losses, they may both turn to an unlikely ally, each other. Although neither company will publicly admit it, credible rumors say that the expense of future engines and transmissions may be shared between the two rivals. Considering that a new engine may cost $1 billion and a new transmission may cost $800 million, only having to spend half as much would be a great benefit to either ailing carmaker. The deal may also extend to technology that is already in development such as the system to be used in GM’s volt or Ford’s EcoBoost system.
All three of the “Big Three” American car companies have built brand loyalty through cross-Detroit rivalry. Many readers have fathers (or who are themselves) who identified themselves as a “GM-man” or a “Ford-man”. But quietly the companies have shared technology. Most recently, GM and Ford split the expense of developing a new six-speed transmission.
Bad news for General Motors: the second quarter of the year losses were worse than expected. A net loss of $15.5 billion or $27.33 per share was reported yesterday. After removing outside factors such as restructuring costs, the company still lost $6.3 billion, or $11.21 per share, on operations. Analysts were expecting only about a $2.62 loss per share. This is a large turnaround from last year, where GM gained $2.29 per share in this quarter.
A drop in total sales helped fuel this loss. GM saw a 21% drop in U.S. sales (although foreign sales rose 7%,) which led to a 5% drop in overall sales. GM named strikes, labor cutbacks, and actions to reduce vehicle output as main reasons for the loss.
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General Motors, like any other auto maker, has real big problems. As a result they cut thousands of jobs, reducing salaries. But they put big hopes in the future seven models.
The seven new models include a new Cadillac CTS Coupe (expected summer ’09), a CTS sport wagon coming in the spring, a Cadillac SRX due in the first half of next year, Buick’s Invicta next spring, Saab’s new 9-4X crossover due in fall ’09, Chevy’s redesigned Equinox coming in May, and the small Chevrolet Cruze.
The most important one to GM’s future may be the Chevrolet Cruze. This compact brings greater fuel efficiency and provides the basis for what GM hopes is a true "world car".
The trio of Caddy’s are important because the brand has been lagging the last two years due to competition and lack of new models. Cadillac is one area where GM can leverage the brand to sell models at a higher price point with greater margins, increasingly important with the slowdown in truck and SUV sales.
Want to find out what E85 is? GMnext is featuring a series of video that debunks some common myths about alternative fuels and advanced propulsion systems. The video showcases GM’s pursuit of a different fuel solution including ethanol, biodiesel, electric, hybrids, etc.
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